Music Review

Metalheads wired in Metallica's blitz of 35-year playlist at Arkansas show

I'm hoarse, my neck is sore from banging my head and my ears will probably be ringing three days from now.

So, yeah, the Metallica show Sunday at Verizon Arena in North Little Rock was a rousing success.

The heavy metal heroes were in town during their WorldWired Tour and played for 2 hours and 15 minutes to a rabid crowd of 17,432.

The group opened with "Hardwired" and "Atlas, Rise" from its latest album, 2016's Hardwired ... to Self-Destruct, before reaching all the way back to its 1983 debut, Kill 'Em All, for a spirited version of "Seek and Destroy."

The foursome -- singer and guitarist James Hetfield, drummer Lars Ullrich, guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo -- blitzed through 18 of their own songs and even threw in instrumental cover versions of songs from a pair of Little Rock punk bands.

The stage was in the middle of the arena, similar to the way it was positioned when the band played here 10 years ago.

Things that emanated from the stage: Fire, some pyrotechnics, large boxes that turned out to be drums the whole group played during "Now That We're Dead" and several dozen tiny, lighted drones that flew above the band during "Moth Into Flame."

Hetfield had eight microphones around the stage's perimeter to choose from and used them all to play to every corner of the arena. Hammett reeled off solos effortlessly as Trujillo stalked the stage with his bass slung low and a perpetual smile on his face.

Ullrich's drum kit was center stage and rotated throughout the evening. The drummer, who co-founded the band in 1981 with Hetfield, is still very much an enthusiastic metalhead, mugging to the crowd, hopping off his stool and whacking his cymbals while standing up.

At one point, Hetfield and Ullrich ceded the stage to Hammett and Trujillo, who thrashed their way through brief covers of songs by Econochrist and Trusty, Little Rock punk bands active in the late '80s and early '90s.

Songs from Hardwired ... to Self Destruct were well received but, of course, the "catalogue" numbers met with the loudest response. Watching Metallica blast singalong thrash staples like "Master of Puppets," "Creeping Death" and "Hit the Lights" is like a trip back to the metal corner of the high school parking lot.

"One" was particularly moving. World War I footage and clips from the anti-war film Johnny Got His Gun, which inspired the 1988 track, played on the 36 boxes/video monitors that hung above the stage as the song grew in force, sounding like the nightmare of battle.

There was a three-song encore and the night ended with "Enter Sandman," the 1991 megahit that put Metallica and its locomotive style of metal firmly into the mainstream. It was a perfect way to put the evening to bed.

Opening the show was comedian and hard rock fan Jim Breuer.

Metro on 01/22/2019

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